This page may be revised before the final exam, but not after Thursday, Apr. 26. If you have corrections or suggestions, please contact the professor.

Please note: If you have questions or see mistakes in this study guide, contact the professor as soon as possible.

General Guidelines:

• Review all assigned readings, putting emphasis on being most familiar with works that have received the most attention in class discussions.

• Be sure all your answers make reference to one or more specific works of literature.

• You do not need to remember in detail every work we have studied, but you should know well the title, characters and plot of main works we discussed in class.

• Write all answers in complete sentences and standard English. Test answers aren’t expected to be as polished stylistically or mechanically as out-of-class papers, but college-level writing skills must be used to make your answers clear to the reader who evaluates them. (See the list at the top of the page on Grading Criteria.)

• In general, you should have a good understanding of how the literature we have studied for this exam represents trends in twentieth-century American literature, .

• Review the online study guides and think about themes that link various works we have studied.

Short Answer Section: (5 points each)
One point is earned by naming the author and title of the work (if not given in the question). Only literary works discussed in class will appear in the short answer section but you may mention other works if that makes sense for the question. The remaining points are given for a brief discussion of the significance of the item or quotation in the question. 

This sample contains good illustrations of strengths and weaknesses in answers for the short answer portion of the text.

Sample Short Answer Question: Discuss briefly the significance of the broken unicorn.

One-point answer (too brief; doesn’t discuss significance; not a complete sentence; author not identified):

a figurine that breaks in The Glass Menagerie

Two-point answer (brief identification but nothing on significance):

Williams, The Glass Menagerie. This is Laura's favorite figurine in her collection of glass animals.

Three-point answer (good on significance of item but nothing precise on how the item relates to main characters or plot or period/genre of literature. The key word "broken" has not been explained. Also there is awkward wording in this answer and the play is called a "story.")

The unicorn in Williams’ The Glass Menagerie symbolizes the unique virgin, fragile, and beautiful aspects of the young person in the story. It represents the unreal fantasy in real life circumstances.

Four-point answer (too much plot summary and not precise enough on thematic significance):

The glass unicorn was one of Laura's favorite figurines in her menagerie of glass animals. She lived with her mother and brother and she was afraid to go out into the world because she felt self-conscious about her physical handicap. Her collection at home was very important to her. Laura and Jim were dancing when they knocked it over and broke it. When that happened she said the unicorn would now be like the other animals. Since she had liked Jim since they were in high school together, and he was helping her feel more self-confident, she gave him the unicorn, but he told her he was engaged to another girl, so the play ends sadly.

Five-point answer (gets right to the point about the significance of the unicorn):

The unicorn is Laura's favorite glass piece in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. It represents her uniqueness and virginity. However, while she and Jim are dancing, the unicorn falls and loses its horn, making it just one of the other horses. This represents Laura's feeling that she is now like everyone else; she is dancing despite her handicap.
 

Essay Questions (50% of test grade):

• There will be two essay questions, each requiring you to write about at least three different works of literature we have studied.

• You will have a choice of essay questions. You choose which work(s) you will discuss to answer the questions you have chosen. Be sure to use specific examples and details from the works to support the generalizations in your essay.

• If questions ask for comparison/contrast, be sure you have included specific, explicit points of comparison and/or contrast in your essay.

• See Pointers for Taking Essay Tests. Many writing and literature textbooks also give advice about responding to essay questions.
  

Tips on avoiding common pitfalls on tests of this type with paragraph and essay questions:

• Read the instructions carefully and answer the number of questions required. Don't leave any blank or it will cost you too many points.

• Budget your time so that you won't be forced to leave anything blank or run out of time for checking your answers at the end.

• Follow any instructions you might find about not duplicating the same examples or writing about a certain number of different authors.

• Select examples that you know well and that fit the question especially well.

• Don't just summarize plot or rephrase the idea in the question. Be sure you stress the significance of the examples you discuss.

• Include specific details as much as possible, without just summarizing plot or using up too much time on any one question.

• Write clearly, legibly, and in complete sentences (for your sake as you check your answers as well as the reader of the test).

• If you have time, take a mental break from working on the test and then look back over answers you wrote earlier in the test period. 

Some Themes and Literary Trends in Works We have Studied:

• Modernism in twentieth-century poetry and other literature (in T. S. Eliot and after)

• Theatre of the Absurd (Albee)

• Beat poets (mainly Ginsberg)

• Harlem Renaissance and its influence on later African American writers
   

• the individual vs. society

• roles of women, especially wives: traditions and innovations or rebellions

• relationships of women/girls and men or boys

• family relationships

• roles of African American characters and race relations

• social justice issues and protest literature

• modernization and industrialization

• relationships with nature

• desire for freedom

• moral choices

• different perspectives on death

• the underdog vs. the powerful

• friendship

• rural and urban life

• survival

• satirizing human behavior and society and provincial people

• wish fulfillment vs. disillusionment or disappointment
   

Assignments from midterm test to Apr. 19:

Short stories:

"Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen

"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

Novels and Drama:

Novel or play you studied for your project

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

Poetry:

Poems by T. S. Eliot, especially "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" (on handout), "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Preludes"

Poems by e e cummings 

Poems by Robert Frost, especially “The Road Not Taken,” “Fire and Ice,” “Design,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Poems by Allen Ginsberg: “Howl,” “A Supermarket in California,” and “America”

Poems you wrote about for "What Would You Stand For" assignment and/or poems discussed in class by Dr. Mead (see poems listed at this link)

Poems by Billy Collins

Poems by Carl Sandburg (we never discussed in class)

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